This Isn't a Game

So I believe when I first started this blog I mentioned the idea that I would play around with science fiction within video games. That idea will likely never be a huge part of this blog, seeing as how I've decided to go down the road of exploring actual science and how it can be incorporated into creative writing; however, video games are still a huge part of my life and affect how I look at a lot of different things. So don't be surprised when you get a post focused on that every now and again (for those of you who don't *play* video games, I apologize, and you can use this as an excuse to learn more about the gaming community).

I was contemplating the other day what makes a video game more intense for the player. I prefer FPS (First Person Shooter) games not only because the controls are classic, but also because that type of game-play really integrates you into the story. It is easier to feel like I'm actually *in* the game if I'm not controlling the character from above or over his left shoulder. So what do game developers do to take control of the experience and make it more vivid for their players?

Well, for anyone who has played a scary game, the answer is easy. You take away one or more of the classic gamer safety blankets.

Any game maker who has played a game or knows gamers is bound to hear about the things gamers do to make themselves more comfortable when playing video games, especially if it's a particularly 'exciting' game. If they then exploit these habits, they can either make the game more fun or more terrifying (these can be one and the same thing, based on your audience).

So what are these safety blankets? In order of importance:

Number One: The F5 Button

Or, more specifically, manual quicksave. Or any way to save at all. The first thing I find myself doing when I know something bad is going to happen in a video game is reach for F5, which is the traditional quicksave button. If I can't hit that, I'll manually make a larger save file, but F5 is fast, easy, and very satisfying. It gives the player a sense of invincibility, because you can go into the most terrible fight and play it over and over again, knowing that death is not permanent because you'll just get loaded at your last quicksave. Which, if you're *smart*, will have been two seconds before.

So here are a couple examples of the way taking away save points affects your players. The first is a small independent game called Amnesia: the Dark Descent, which most gamers know as the scariest game to be created so far.



Now the content of the game is pretty scary, but really it's not nearly as disturbing as some of the content in games like the F.E.A.R. series, which tries to disgust its players just as much as scare them.

Gore galore

The big difference that separates Amnesia from the rest is based on several factors, some of which I'll discuss later in the post. But the one thing I really struggled with, besides the perfectly timed pee-your-pants moments, the epic scary music, and the monster concepts, was the fact that the game HAS NO SAVEPOINTS. That's right. The intro scene clearly states that the game will 'take care of the saving for you.' No quick save. No save. No control at all. That's right, let's put our virtual lives in the hands of a video game. Video games never troll us, right?

Right?

Is that a monster over there? So sorry...

The second example is the very popular and severely under-appreciated Minecraft, which is also an independent game. It doesn't look scary at all when you first start playing it, but once you actually get some items and night falls, you'll realize that it's not at all the picnic it seems. There are no save points, first of all. And when you die, you lose everything. Soon, you start understanding what it's like to be this girl:

Minecraft Massacre

Number Two: Big Weapons

Save or no save, a gamer will always feel more comfortable with a sure way to defend himself. And the gaming world has come up with some pretty darn cool ways to do that.

I'd feel safe too.

Now, a video game developer can easily ruin their gameplay by giving the gamer *too much* ammo. We like a little excitement, of course -- and if there's a never ending supply of ammunition for our nuclear-bomb-firing B.F.G. then we literally have nothing to worry about. We can run into a room (quicksaving first, of course) full of Strogg Tank forces that are way more powerful than ourselves and feel no fear if we have the right weapons. At that point, we just don't care.

Let's go back to Amnesia. Let's talk about the fact that we have no defense or offense. That's right. No weapons. No traps. No NOTHING. We can't even use our creativity to find ways to kill the monsters with items that are just lying around! Not to mention that the monsters in Amnesia can kill you in a couple hits every time and will also eventually cause you to go insane and curl up on the floor if you are not careful.

He just gives me the warm fuzzies. Of death.

Only one player has managed to figure out how to kill these things, and it's so specific you can only do it in one room of the game. So, really, it's not so much a useful technique as it is a temporarily satisfying mode of revenge.

Killing Monsters in Amnesia

Number Three: Pause

The pause button is one escape all gamers have that can never be taken away from us. It gives us the chance to change our pants if we hear a scary noise, take a breather, and go back to a game feeling more prepared. But game developers never bother messing with this one probably because, one, the relief doesn't last that long anyway, and two, they don't want a lawsuit on their hands if someone actually dies of fright.



Number Four: Lighting

Gamers love well lit games. We can see everything in it, and if there are no shadows that means there is no reason to hide. Unfortunately, if we love scary games too, that means we have to give up the safety of light.

If you have the urge to put torches on practically every surface in minecraft, you are proving the theory right. They're called Safety Torches.

And what is one of the chief offenders of this rule? Amnesia, of course -- it's not called the scariest game for no reason. You actually have a light adjuster presented to you at the beginning of the game. You can either make the game really light like a pansy (like me) or you can play it the way it was *meant* to be played and virtually blind yourself in the shadows.

Mommy, I'm scared.

Another reason dark games are evil? You have to turn all your lights off to be able to see anything. Leaving you sitting there, alone, in the dark, scared out of your mind.

Did you leave that closet door open before?

Number Five: Corners and Small Rooms

These make gamers feel secure for several reasons. Let's start with corners. It's obvious: a corner gives you something to put your back against and there are only a few directions that a monster can come after you from. Not only that, but you can see them all from that corner.

One way game developers can exploit this comfort is by making their game path a series of halls. Like, oh crap, here it is again, Amensia. Walking down a hall can scare anyone -- it's disorienting and you can't look forward and back at the same time easily. Or even efficiently. Likely, if anything scary is going to happen, it will happen then.

What's around that corner?

Gamers also prefer small rooms to big ones because, in olden days, if you entered a large, open room, it was a classic Boss time. Or if there was something shiny in the middle of the room, bad things were likely to happen. You could pretty much always predict where the big battles would be based on how large the room was. Big rooms also have no place to hide, unlike small rooms.

I've got a bad feeling about this...




So next time you're playing a game you can rate your experience based on these five gamer safety blankets. If it's violating even one of them, chances are you'll jump at least a couple times during the game. And it will be awesome.

Feed the Grumbies.

-L

What do you get when you combine an English major with complex physics?

You get an entire creative thesis based on time travel.

Perhaps the end of a semester and heading into the Christmas holidays is a bad time to decide that ye olde blog needs some attention. But my New Year's resolutions are all starting early: sticking to my diet, finally losing weight, and writing more.

Back to said thesis statement.

I'm heading into my second semester as a Junior in college and I've already started the research process for an extensive project that, I plan, will be the main attraction to my creative writing portfolio (which you can peruse as you please here). It will consist of several short stories exploring the problems, theories, and possible results of time travel. Which means lots of essays on Temporal Metaphysics that are entirely out of my depth, but hey, I try to be a well rounded person.

So here's an interesting theory: temporal loops. Or, at least, what I understand of temporal loops. Imagine a time-line, just your average black line with little labels of dates and events.



Now imagine that you draw a semicircle sitting right on top of it. This is the path of a time traveler. He breaks away from the main time-line at point A and rejoins it at point -A (it can't be point B. B comes after A, and he's gone back in time. See?)



Just the very fact that he has broken away from the time line causes many problems, such as:

1.) By going back in time he has temporarily erased himself from the immediate future (let's call that point B, since it looks so lonely). Not only is his once possible future (point B) forever changed and possibly forever abandoned, but he has also linked his past (point -A) with with a new future, creating a conflict between future and past. In effect, past and future become the same and the words now mean nothing to the time traveler.



2.) He has now inserted two 'copies' of himself into one point in time. The implications of this are, as of this blog post, unknown.



3.) And finally, there is the loop itself. You can pretend it acts like temporal erosion: once created, it isn't certain whether it will cease to be immediately. Will it vanish as if it never was traveled? Will it gradually cease to be over time? Or is it a permanent track that, once beaten down, will stay there for all eternity?



This last question, of course, could be answered if one knew what sort of matter the time traveler is traveling *through*. It could be imagined that, since there is a version of the time traveler that will always go back in time at point A, the time loop will never have a chance to close. But that observation also brings up a series of *other* problems.

1.) Assuming the time loop never closes, will the time traveler be caught up in it again when he returns to point A, forcing him to forever move between point A and -A indefinitely?



2.) If so, does this mean that all his 'past selves' will be caught up with his once 'future self,' causing him to multiply infinitely until he reaches the number where the death of his older selves is equaled by the addition of his younger selves?



3.) If not, then how does the universe handle the fact that his life will continue to play out to its end over and over again separated only by the length he traveled like a broken record?



Though he will not experience it directly, the time traveler has, in effect, gained a sort of immortality and placed the entire universe on repeat.

And this is all the things I thought of based on *one* paragraph of *one* essay I read on Temporal Metaphysics and Causal Time Loops.

Get ready. There will be more!

And feed the Grumbies.

-L

NASA, You Break My Heart

I know it's been a while since I posted. But this is a big deal!

A few weeks ago a television show premiered reveling in the final launch of a space shuttle to our station in orbit. Did any of you feel a pain in your stomach watching this? Our final ascent, and they laud it with pride.

What I feel is disappointment. I'm sad that we could push aside what has been described as 'the final frontier' with a shrug and a grin. Think about that description -- there once was a time when men were leaving everything they had to just get a peak at what no person had seen before. The wild used to drag us away with its mystery and power.

Since when did that power become confined to the boundaries of our atmosphere? The drag of the stars is not pulling enough people hard enough.

It pulls me, though. I go in my mind, through words, but it would be the pride of my imagination to see more, to be able to go to those pitch black depths penetrated by burning horizons of gas and dust through the steps of another. Who will go?

"Those were the voyages"

What's next for NASA

*poof*

Back after a bit of craziness. Exams were a tad stressful, but I got through just fine. Hopefully with the summer starting that means I can post here more and more often. We'll see. One of these days I'll start some sort of actual schedule for posting and stick to it...

Anyway, I'm just checking in to let you who actually do read my blog (?) know that I am indeed still alive and interested in letting you guys in on my scientific and creative discoveries of the recent times.

Maybe weekly...

Check out these two articles. Both are incredibly interesting and inspiring -- the scientific future is bright, even if it's a long way off.

First Habitable Planet Discovered...Maybe
Here

Bionic Hand for Amputee
Here

Purpose

What exactly do I want to write about when it comes to these stories?

My last post has me thinking. Now, to be fair to myself, I picked a story that was in itself based solely on plot. Even the characters were not developed to a detailed extent. The combination of fantasy and science fiction throws a little wrench in the idea of picking out intriguing scientific theory.

So what am I looking for?

1. The Story
I'll first of all discuss what the story is about.

2. Why does it work? Or not work?
From a literary stand point, why do we enjoy this? What makes the story flow? Or, why is this particular story not as good as others?

3. What are some key scientific points that classify it as Science Fiction?
Now here is what I really want to talk about! I'm no scientist; while I can often get the basic idea in even the most complicated scientific theories that are used in stories, I want to know more. And I'm sure you do too. Let's research a bit together!

4. What are the best/worst examples of writing in this story?
And of course, quotes and small sections of the stories will run freely throughout. I love words, above all, and will always post something that popped out at me while I was reading. Or, if I am discussing a story from the negative side, I'll be sure to point out why it disagrees with me.

Plot summary is something that, in school, has been demonized. My professors tell me to stay away from it, and they are mostly right. I'll try my best to tell you the story without spoiling the reading for you, but stories in every aspect of their being is what this blog is all about. If you don't want spoilers, I suggest you read the story before the post!

Of course, my discussions will hardly be enough to take away the joy that comes from reading the original words in such masterpieces.

Musings! That's all from me.
L

P.S. GRUMBIES

Semley's Necklace

There is something out there in the world of creativity that, for some reason, always seems to draw the worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy together. The relationship between the two can be hard to grasp -- we only recognize that it exists. Fantasy and Science Fiction can often seem mutually exclusive, but that is only because both worlds have been type cast with their goblins and unicorns, robots and alien races, respectively. The two are, however, very similar in that they both rely heavily on the act of making that which is already around us more incredible. The only difference is that Fantasy does not have to concern itself with what can actually be, but only what it can make you believe.

There have been many attempts over the years to combine the genres of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I don't think I can bring to mind a single one that has made it to 'high fame and fortune' (who needs that anyway?). Why is this? Put simply, because it's very hard to successfully combine the two. You'd think when you put two genres that *seem* to go hand in hand so well into the same play ground that they would naturally get along. But like any toddlers (which is what I think all genres really are: childish imps that need to be raised properly) that may seem to have fun at the beginning, inevitably someone starts crying.

This is where we bring in the baby sitters, the ones who have handled a hundred petty squabbles if not more. These are the writers who have, time and again, solved the problem that lies before us and created a beautiful piece of combined Science Fiction and Fantasy art.

My personal favorite author who dabbles between the two genres is Ursula K. Leguin, author of the mildly popular series the Earthsea stories and one of my favorite science fiction books of all time, The Left Hand of Darkness.

Sifting through her many, wonderful novels, however, which generally side either with Fantasy or Science Fiction, you can come across a few short stories that have hidden themselves quite well, including one that is the most perfect marriage of the two genres that I have ever read.

"Semley's Necklace" is one of LeGuin's more obscure pieces, apparently, for there aren't many good references to it that I can link to you here. There is a slight description of it here, in this description of one of her full length novels. So other than that, you'll just have to take my word for it!

Semley is a princess of one of the many intelligent species that make their histories on the planet of Fomalhaut II. Of course, that is not what they call the planet, but the name given to their home by the men called 'Starlords.' But the castles that once held riches are being swept clean, gradually, with every season that the Starlords come to collect their taxes.

"Hope came hard to the Angyar of Hallan and all the Western Lands, since the Starlords had appeared with their houses that leaped about on pillars of fire and their awful weapons that could level hills. They had interfered with all the old ways and wars, and though the sums were small there was a terrible shame to the Angyar in having to pay a tax to them, a tribute for the Starlords' war that was to be fought with some strange enemy, somewhere in the hollow places between the stars, at the end of years. 'It will be your war too,' they said, but for a generation now the Angyar sat in idle shame in their revel-halls, watching their double swords rust, their sons grow up without ever striking a blow in battle, their daughters marry poor men, even midmen, having no dowry of heroic loot to bring a noble husband."

This is the tragedy that Semley lives within and marries into; as the daughter in law of the lord of Hallan, she knows well the harsh poverty that shames her people, and the poverty that shames her own person as well, for she, like all the other brides, has no dowry to speak of, and must look in envy upon the few women who do still retain wealth of any kind.

It is a memory, a rumor, that eventually moves Semley to take the journey that she plans to honor her husband, Durhal, with: a great sapphire necklace, an heirloom of her family that was lost before her birth. Ashamed at her own inability to bring beauty to her husband's side, wealth in the form of a dowry she was never provided, Semley takes the step on her own and leaves the palace for what she believes will be a few days. She travels first to her homeland, and asks there, then to the land of the Fiia, the Lightfolk. They know where the stone may be -- with it's creators, the Clayfolk.

"'Do not go among the Clayfolk, Semley,' he said, and for a moment her heart failed her. The Fian, drawing his hand down slowly over his eyes, had darkened all the air about them...'In the mountains of the far land Fiia and the Gdemiar parted. long ago we parted...Longer ago we were one. What we are not, they are. What we are, they are not...think that not all roads that lead down lead up as well."

Yet despite the advice, Semley continues on and comes to the world of night. Here the creatures known as Clayfolk reside, and much like dwarves they make their world with mining and machines. At other times in the book, the Clayfolk are described as 'friends of the Starlords,' and it is obvious from their place of residence why the Clayfolk and the Starlords get along so well. Both are advanced in technology -- the Clayfolk have machines to do their bidding, just as the Starlords do. It is suggested later that the Clayfolk were 'steered' to become Industrial, and that their main art lay first in the creation of great beauty such as the necklace that Semley seeks. It would not be a far stretch of the imagination to assume that the Starlords are the reason that the Fiia and the Clayfolk split.

After long discussion, the agreement is made that the Clayfolk will take Semley to where the necklace is.

"'How far a journey, Lord?'

His lips drew back and back. 'A very far journey, Lady. Yet it will last only one long night.'"

And this is how she comes to the Museum, and meets Rocannon and Ketho, somewhere several leaps of space away from Fomalhaut II.

I have done far too much plot summary as it is, so let me continue more quickly. This story is just so full and bright that I can't help but highlight as much as I can. At the end of their meeting, Semley leaves with the necklace in her possession, knowing nothing of the time she has actually spent away from her home. As she returns to the ship upon which she has been brought by the Clayfolk, Rocannon and Ketho have a moment of understanding:

"What I feel sometimes is that I...meeting these people from worlds we know so little of, you know, sometimes...that I have as it were blundered through the corner of a legend, or a tragic myth, maybe, which I do not understand."

This is the best quote of the whole story. So beautiful -- in all honesty, you could supply the same thought to the world upon which we live. There are so many cultures that we do not know well, some that we haven't even contacted yet, and the brief brushes that we can claim in our experience may be the tip of a story that you will never fully know.

Semley returns to her land to find her husband dead, her baby daughter grown, and her friends old and gray. She has been gone for nine years.

"...weeping aloud, [she] turned and ran from Hallan, over the bridge and down the long, broad steps, and, darting off eastward into the forest of the mountainside like some wild thing escaping, was gone."

See why I love this story? It's just as Rocannon says -- the corner of some tragic myth. Ursula K. LeGuin does a magnificent job of combining Fantasy and Science Fiction, and she probably succeeds in the way she does by choosing one to emphasize and one to write about. While the story is given to us in a very Fantastical tone, it is no doubt a Science Fiction story. Why? Because all throughout the tale there are signs that these magical occurrences that Semley is witnessing are not the results of a god, or a powerful fae creature, or some other Fantastical being, but the works of technology and science. Her descent into the long night that takes from her the life and husband she had left to honor is only the result of light year hopping.

Who knows where the Museum resides, or why there is even a Museum in the middle of space at all. That is a tale you'll have to find in the novel that this short story is a prelude for: Rocannon's World.

That's all from me. I do apologize for the amount of plot summary here. I'm figuring out more and more what it is exactly I want to discuss in relation to these stories, and the last thing I want it to be is plot-driven. If you have any suggestions on what to discuss, please let me know! I have a few ideas, but I'd love to hear yours as well.

Be well, and don't forget the Grumbies!
L

Set Back

I hate to say it, but I'm just not going to be able to write the story review I promised you *tonight*. After receiving a pretty bad bit of news, I just don't have the heart or the energy. I only post this because I have been bad about blog posts as it is, and I feel I owe you an explanation.

But fear not! I am determined to get this post written, so even if it doesn't get done tonight, it will be sometime this weekend.

I'm doing laundry tomorrow, so I'll have plenty of time....

Until then,

L

The Other Side

I wanted to take a moment to talk about something that I feel is very important and also, sadly, severely lacking in society today. It's something that I as a writer have drawn upon heavily to create the scenes and sentences that impact people the most; it is something that is required to fully understand and appreciate the world around us, the people in our lives -- it can be applied to anything if you think about it enough. I wish people would more often.

That thing is awe.

Awe is a lot like beauty. It can't really be defined because not everyone experiences it the same way or as a result of the same influences. So instead of discussing the what's and why's of awe, here is a simple exercise.

Music is something that I, personally, barely understand. If you asked me to write a song, I could spend ten years and never accomplish anything hardly unique. Music is a language that all of humanity speaks, but just as in the written word, not everyone is cut out to be a writer. I've listened to a lot of music in my life, and the vast majority of it has been without lyrics. I grew up listening almost exclusively to movie scores, mostly because they were the best ways to get me to really dig deep and harvest the proper emotions I needed to write a specific scene.

A few years ago I watched the movie Gattaca, which focuses on the theory of Genetic Discrimination. It's a beautiful movie, and I fervently suggest you watch it. But I can also say that I enjoy the sound track to this movie better than the actual film itself.

There is one song, in particular, that I want you to listen to: The Other Side.

Now here's the important part: do not listen to this song just by itself. If you do that, you may simply enjoy it, or at the worst find it repetitive. Take this song and place yourself in close proximity with something bigger than yourself. Stand at the base of a sky scraper and stare up the side. Watch a storm rolling in through your neighborhood. Think about your own heart, your own mind, and then connect yourself to the idea that there are more than six billion other people in the world with their own individual mental space, thinking different thoughts, observing and breathing and being something completely unique and different from yourself. Find a dark spot and gaze at the stars and just imagine how small you really are, and how the light you are looking at, a tiny pinprick in an infinitely vast blackness, is actually centuries old, the result of a chemical reaction that may have taken place before society started. You have to actually go do it, because reading these insignificant descriptions will not likely inspire you with true awe.

Awe is so very important, to writers, to engineers, to scientists, to artists, to politicians, to all of humanity, and it is something I think that we take for granted...but perhaps that is because it is such a private thing. What moves one soul may not move another. And that, in itself, is awesome.

Learn from the Future that has Passed

First of all, apologies that it's been so long. Life got a little crazy. But this post will be followed by another story review on Friday, so here's hoping we can stave off the real world for a bit longer.

You may be wondering what one earth I mean by the title. Well, it all centers around this.

It may seem to be a really neat mechanism, at first glance: a body suit that enhances your muscle power by reading the signals that come through your skin. But there are just a few key names here that one must not miss.

First of all, notice the name of the body suit: "HAL." If that's not screaming alarms at you, then you should review your classics. In 2001: A Space Odyssey, there is a super-intelligent computer program named HAL that controls almost every aspect of the space station that three men are working and living on. At one point, HAL encounters a glitch, which for his advanced type of computer, was supposed to be impossible. HAL does not respond well to this at all. He might have let it pass untold of had not the men of the ship discovered it. With the threat of his status being destroyed by the glitch and the impending doom of shut-down for maintenance, HAL goes crazy and begins killing the men off. He succeeds with two, and is eventually turned off by the third, desperate astronaut (Dave), spouting nonsense and just generally creepy 'HAL-isms' till the very end. In fact the most famous part about 2001: A Space Odyssey (other than the screaming black column) is HAL's calm, disconcerting way of speaking.

"Open the pod bay door, HAL."

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave...."

SPOOKY.

Item number two of general concern. This Japanese company could have left their unfortunate naming system at HAL (which now that I think of it, can you imagine if the HAL in the movie could control your body with this suit?) but instead the biggest, most scary thing of all is the actual name of the company itself!

Cyberdyne.

If it sounds familiar, let it sink in a bit. Uhuh. That's it. OH YEAH. How does this charming face help?



Cyberdyne Systems Corporation is the fictional company in the Terminator movie series that was responsible for creating Skynet, the super program that became sentient and nearly wiped out all human life, saving the remnants as slaves until John Conner came along and destroyed them.

Now tell me that this company isn't picking these names on purpose. Perhaps they know full well what the robots represented are, and what they did in the fictional future. Perhaps they think it's funny. Well, to be honest, it is a little...but really, it's also kind of creepy. Japan is putting out some amazing technology -- they even have their own android receptionists now (one of the most noted is named Saya, and she works for...just guess...Cyberdyne).

So perhaps it's all in good fun. But if this company names their next robot invention Cutie, I'm building a bomb shelter.

They say you have to remember the past so as not to repeat it. But what if we forget the future? Well, we're doomed then, too.

Learn from the mistakes we haven't made yet!

Well, that's all from me. Don't forget to feed the Grumbies, and you'll be hearing from me at the end of the week!

L

P.S. Please note that this article is all in good fun, and not at all attempting to portray a negative light upon the Cyberdyne company in Japan.

"The Piper's Son"

It's cold outside. Very cold. The kind that makes you all stiff and slow -- so bear with me if my words follow suit.

Today we're finally getting into the real stuff. I'll be starting in the Oxford anthology (everyone turn your books to page 127...) with a story called "The Piper's Son" by Lewis Padgett.

I really don't know quite how I'm going to be formatting these discussions -- with time I'm sure I'll get better at it, but to being with I may be relying a little much on discussion of plot and character. So if you're averse to spoilers, I'm letting you know now!

This story was written in 1945 as a collaboration between Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, husband and wife who created the pseudonym by combining the maiden names of their mothers. The list of their works, combined efforts and individually written pieces, is impressively long. Their first story was published in 1934 (can you imagine?), and they continued writing into the early '80s. Science fiction is impressive on its own, but when you consider that much of the truly amazing works were written almost eighty years ago, it seems almost crazy. And perhaps that's how the ideas of many science fiction writers have appeared over the years!

"The Piper's Son" is a story about psychics, or as they are called within the realm of the crafted society, 'Baldies.' They are called this for the obvious physical reason that they have no hair at all -- this is part of the mutation that makes them psychic. The story as to how Baldies came into being is only hinted at, but masterfully so, describing an event called 'the Blowup' which was some sort of radioactive catastrophe. Those who weren't killed in the disaster or changed into monsters, and those who lived in and around the area after it, eventually produced a mutated group of human beings with the abilities to read others' minds.

But "The Piper's Son" is less about the reason why the Baldies came into existence and more about how they cope in a society prone to distrust them. The world is a dangerous place for super-humans -- that much is made clear. But, to the credit of the rest of humanity, it is also implied that the fear of Baldies is the cause of encounters with individuals who attempt to take their powers to an extreme, such as the domination of the 'normal' beings.

We follow the character Ed Burkhalter, a Baldie living his life peacefully in Modoc Publishing Town. Most of the story resides in his mind as he considers the life he has and his role as a freak. His own wisdom and frank speech is very interesting -- a different angle than the frequently used tragic monster story. He knows his powers, and he knows how to use them properly in the context of an uneasy society. Ed describes it this way: "A man with abnormal muscle development wouldn't go around knocking people down. Not unless he wanted to be mobbed. Baldies were always sneakingly conscious of a hidden peril, lynch law. And wise Baldies didn't even imply that they had an...extra sense." It is also made very clear through the course of the story that even humans without the extra sense can tell when their minds are being listened in on. Hence the danger of attack, for if they didn't know when they were being spied on, then the Baldies would have the undeniable advantage.

The society itself is also very interesting -- an odd mix that is hard to place and makes me wonder about the events that led to its creation. Throughout the story there are references to hidden fears and terrible events (the 'dusting off' of whole cities). The setting is America, but when? They have impressive technology, and yet continue to carry daggers at their belts and issue challenges for duels. Throughout the story are references to something called a 'Green Man' which even now I'm not entirely sure what it is. There are hints, and this is where we come to the problem of the story.

And it is a most sinister one at that. Ed has a son, Al, who at the tender age of eight years old is struggling through a period where he will be determined as either a healthy Baldie, or a paranoidal one (Baldies that don't wear wigs, invade minds without permission, and deep down believe in the superiority of their race). The boy spends most of his time in the story living in a shared fantasy with the other Baldie children of the community, in which they follow the adventures of what is referred to as a 'Green Man.' Though there are fantastic elements in the imagination story, such as gnomes, the Green Man in this version does not appear to be related to the fae creature, a man of the wood represented mostly in architecture around England. Despite the obvious fantasy feel to the dream, the 'bad guys' still wield death rays and other such objects that relate the times.

But what does this fantasy tale really mean? When I first read the story, I didn't understand until the very end; but now that I know the story and characters, reading back I can see obviously what is being said:

"...the Green Man, a figure of marvellous muscular development, handsome as a god, and hairless from head to foot, glistening pale green...And the hairy gnomes watched malignantly, jealously, from their crannies in the glass crags."

Ahah! The Green Man is the representation of a Baldie, a hero, and his enemies the disgusting and contemptible gnomes are humanity as they lie weak in comparison. This is obviously not a normal, childish daydream. In fact, the adults are already suspicious and concerned, for their children show signs of a most alarming sort: not getting along with their peers in school, isolation, unfavorable thoughts of their own parents, taking off their wigs...etc. It turns out, eventually, that the Green Man story is a conditioning procedure, thrown out towards the vulnerable minds by one of the paranoidal, angry Baldies of the community. And he is dealt with.

Survival is important to all creatures, and it will push us to become things we do not recognize in ourselves. Ed Burkhalter, a man who has never dueled in his life, who wishes to have nothing to do with it for the risk it causes to himself, turns into a colder, more frightening thing in the protection of his family:

"Burkhalter took out his dagger. Other slivers of steel glittered for a little while--

And were quenched."

There is no doubt that, though Ed has a good attitude about his lot in life, there is a little sadness, a small amount of bitterness that comes from being different. No one likes to be different -- the ideal of being unique is a false one, a trick to get people to fit in. Ever heard the phrase "You're unique, just like everyone else?" Well, to an extent it is true. Even in our differences, we can be the same. And there is a terrible need to belong somewhere. Which leads me to my favorite quote in the whole book.

"I wish to God I wasn't different. We didn't ask to be telepaths. Maybe its all very wonderful in the long run, but I'm one person, and I've got my own microcosm. People who deal in long-term sociology are apt to forget that. They can figure out the answers, but it's every individual man -- or Baldy -- who's got to fight his own personal battle while he's alive. And it isn't as clearcut as a battle. It's worse: it's the necessity of watching yourself every second, of fitting yourself into a world that doesn't want you."

Beautiful -- here's a little hint of that tragic monster thread. But it had to come up some time, I suppose. However, this could, in a way, apply to other categories of people. In a way, it's a human condition as well.

Overall, "The Piper's Son" is a fascinating read, very pleasant and easy to get through. You'll like it!

*Whew!* Well, that's all I've got for now. I'm thinking that I'll be starting out with a story review at least once a week, most likely on Fridays. Hopefully between those I can come on here and just share a few thoughts or something I found interesting in the course of the week. We'll just have to see!

So long, and don't forget the Grumbies!
L

The Works

It's a rather dreary day here in Atlanta. Not at all inspiring, but perhaps a good day to sit down and consider some books. Which is exactly what I intend to do today!

Later in the week I'll be delving into individual short stories, but as of right now I wanted to let you all know what anthologies I am drawing my stories out of. Hard science fiction, in my opinion, has largely been dominated by the short story style of writing. It is also my favorite way to read and write the genre. Why? Because, let's face it: for the less than scientifically inclined, hard science fiction can occasionally be very difficult to get through.

Now, the key difference between hard and 'soft' science fiction is found in the content. Isaac Asimov's anthology of short stories "I, Robot" (which you will find me referring to very often) and "A Pail of Air" by Fritz Leiber are both good examples of hard science fiction. They concentrate on the "what if's?" of science, actual possibilities that could occur in the realm of the natural world. Soft science fiction is a little less respected simply because it doesn't focus on the science of the story (seems a little silly, doesn't it? I mean, it is science fiction). I've become fond of the term "Futuristic Fantasy" to refer to soft science fiction. Do you like it? I made that up myself. And the reason is because the writers bend laws that cannot be bent to create their ideas. Think of Star Wars -- every time a Tie-Fighter blows up in space, there's a dramatic flash of flame. Hmmm. What is fire, essentially? It is the chemical reaction between a material and oxygen. Oxygen. There's no oxygen in space, hence there would be no explosion with fire. Now, there could be other ways for the ship to explode, I'm sure. That would require more research. But as it is, Star Wars got it wrong. Soft science fiction.

So 'Futuristic Fantasy' can easily take up hundreds and hundreds of pages without causing the brain to turn to confused and exhausted mush. It's very popular because of this. And that's ok -- don't get me wrong, I also enjoy and respect soft science fiction. It's still difficult to write. But hard science fiction is the thing that you *really* have to be careful with. Because if you call it legitimate, and you get it wrong, the science community will take great care to point it out to you. This happened to Larry Niven with his famous novel Ringworld. He had to write a second novel, The Ringworld Engineers to explain the physics of how his idea could work. So if you think you can qualify your stories to the people who really know what they're talking about, write whatever you want.

In short, hard science fiction is difficult no matter what because not everyone can be a physicist, or a chemist, or an astrologist, or an expert on nuclear materials, etc.

But I digress.

Anyways, the books that I will be drawing from are these:

(1). The Oxford Book of Science Fiction, ed. Tom Shippey.

(2). The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard Science Fiction, ed. David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

And I'll also be dipping into The Essential Ellison which is a collection of all of Harlan Ellison's short stories for his entire career (including a few from his early teens). Not to mention I'll probably throw in a few classic novels here and there, when I have the time to read them!

Until next time then!

L

p.s. Don't forget to feed the Grumbies.

455

Hello! Welcome to my blog. Seems to be what everyone is doing these days, but they say that companies like to see you have internet, coding, and writing skills all in one bunch. I guess you could say this means you can stick to a schedule too. So blogging is really one of those things that writers need.

I hate introductions, whether it be in person, in an essay, a story, or even something as low stakes as a blog. So this first post is going to be a lot looser, less formal, than the rest of my writing might sound. Of course, we'll be getting into much more interesting topics than myself later, which will help, I think.

Basically all you need to know about me at the moment can be found on my profile to the right. I am a student in Atlanta, Georgia, and I read and write science fiction. The reading part is probably the key to the writing -- I'd say that not a single person was *born* to write. Just like no one was *born* to make a circuit board (I made a circuit board once! Albeit...a very simple one). You have to learn, research, see how other people do it before you can start yourself, and for writers this comes in other author's works. You may like history books, or non-fiction, or maybe do-it-yourself guides, or, like me, the wider world of fiction. No matter what you find yourself attracted to, you *have* to read it before you can write it. Trust me, genres can be horribly mangled and converged into a Frankenstein monster if you're not paying attention.

But, as I have already stated, my personal area of interest, and hopefully one day expertise, is the extremely unappreciated genre of Science Fiction. But we'll get to that in a minute.

Let's start with the name of my blog. Unless you are a science buff, you probably won't immediately recognize what 455 below represents. Well, I'm pretty sure you can gather that it's a temperature, but a temperature of what?

Space. The beautiful infinite (or is it?) expanse that surrounds our comparatively insignificant little solar system. Now, this is by no means the average of all that space! The technical temperature of the void is 'absolute zero' or zero Kelvin, which converts to -273.15 degrees Celsius. I was never very good at these kinds of conversions, so I chose the Fahrenheit version: -459.66999999999996 degrees. Now obviously you can't name a blog *that*! No one would be able to talk about it.

"Hey, did you read 459.66999999999996 below today?"

"No, I missed that section."

Silly. No, I much prefer 455. Besides, out there somewhere (in the great beyond...) there is a specific patch of space - probably many patches - that have the specific temperature of -455 degrees F. Remember, the vacuum of space fluctuates. It's a pretty violent environment, or so I've been told.

And what will I be discussing here at 455 below? Well, many things I'm sure. I love the internet because it allows us to see and learn so many things. I will be concentrating, however, on reviewing different Science Fiction stories, long and short, that I read. You'll have to keep me honest -- my goal is to write at least once a week, so if I start slacking off, send me a virus or something (not really, please don't do that).

That reminds me of a story....

But you'll just have to WAIT to hear about it!

So long for now,
L

p.s. Enjoy feeding the space grumbies.